


Collapse

by musicluva4eva



Category: Station 19 (TV)
Genre: F/M, Not Beta Read, okay definite angst, possible angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-09-30 22:03:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17232023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicluva4eva/pseuds/musicluva4eva
Summary: After a building collapse, Ripley realises that his judgement may be impaired after all.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything in a couple years, so please be gentle. I don't have a single clue where this fic is going (it somehow came together at 2AM out of absolutely nowhere), but expect 2-3 chapters and possibly some angst before it comes together. I just love these two together and want more episodes now!!

Ripley knew it was bad.

He had known the moment he heard the loud crack run through the air, signalling that the decrepit structure in front of him would come crashing down sooner rather than later. 

The fire hadn’t been roaring at the old apartment building for long, but the smoke had turned black at the upper floors within minutes of Station 19 arriving. Ripley had appeared on scene only because he had been stuck at Station 23 overseeing peer reviews and the fire was a few blocks away. Sullivan was barking out orders as the Scene Commander, ensuring that the roof continued to be properly vented and that evacuation protocols were being followed. He’d seen Montgomery and Hughes dart into the building, no doubt focused on emptying the building of civilians. Herrera had gotten the first floor cleared and was taking a few deep pulls from the ambulance oxygen tanks before she would, no doubt, return to the building. 

No one could’ve known that the building wasn’t up to code—and hadn’t been in years. Sullivan had assumed that they had more time before the fire would be too intense for his crew and had okayed continued evacuations. He had kept the top floors, with its billowing black clouds of smoke, off-limits to the firefighters. Ripley, himself, could see no faults in that assessment; the building appeared stable and the bottom floors weren’t yet overwhelmed by smoke or fire. Most of the building was clear of civilians, with Hughes and Montgomery finishing up their final sweep of the third floor when Ripley heard the creaking that he knew to mean imminent collapse. 

“Hughes! Montgomery! GET OUT! The building is coming down!” Sullivan all but screamed into his radio.

Ripley’s instincts kicked in as he yelled for everyone to get away from the building, pulling lingering civilians as far as he could. He spotted Bishop holding Herrera back as she screamed that her friends were still inside. 

“Vic and Travis are still in there! We have to help them get out!” Herrera shouted, her pain and anger evident on her face. 

“Stand down, Herrera! There’s nothing we can do.” Ripley heard himself say. 

It took everything in him to not run into the building and get Hughes himself. His rational instincts, the ones cultivated from almost two decades of firefighting, kept him from doing so and forced him to continue pulling people as far as possible from the building. Every other part of him screamed at him to not be Chief Ripley and instead be just Lucas, whose—girlfriend? Person? Friend?—was running for her life, trying to get out of the burning building that would soon fall. 

He could hear Hughes on the radio, yelling that they were almost at the exit when the deafening roar of a building collapse was heard. It all seemed to happen in slow-motion for Lucas. He could see Montgomery running, through the haze of smoke, with Hughes a few steps behind him. The building was crashing down, but it looked like they would both make it out by the skin of their teeth. Lucas knew he was stepping back and getting behind the shelter of the firetruck but wasn’t consciously aware of it. He could make out Vic’s form as she sprinted towards the only exit, even as he watched the top of the building crumble and begin to take its body with it. 

Lucas thought she had made it out.

Or at least he really, really hoped that she had. 

The dust cleared and he heard screams and coughing all around him. The fire was mostly put out from the force of the collapse, but there were still pockets of flames scattered around. Montgomery seemed to have hurled his body out of the door and was lying on the sidewalk. Herrera screamed and suddenly time seemed to return to normal for Lucas, especially once he noticed that he couldn’t see Hughes anywhere. 

“I see Travis! Let’s go!” Bishop shouted as her team sprang into action.

He felt nauseous as he ran, following Herrera to the spot where they had last seen Hughes. Montgomery was moving, which was a good sign, so he left Bishop to get him treated and to the aid car. It was then that he noticed the jacket-clad arm hanging out from the debris and how Herrera was working desperately to free it. He hadn’t even realized that that he was digging at the wreckage with little more than his gloves to help him until he was pulling Hughes’ body out. 

His hand shook as he checked for a pulse and nearly screamed in joy when he found one. Ripley instinctively did an assessment of her body as Herrera rushed to grab medical supplies from Gibson, who was running over from 23’s aid car. There were scratches all over her exposed skin and she had been knocked unconscious by the force of the blast, but what worried him most was the piece of metal that was sticking out of her abdomen. 

“This looks bad,” Gibson muttered, sliding down next to Hughes and Ripley, “it could have hit anything.”

“We need to get her to Grey Sloan, now.” Herrera agreed.

“She has a pulse—it’s weak but it’s there.” Ripley managed to choke out.

Gibson’s eye twitched and it was obvious he had noticed to emotion buried in the Chief’s voice, but he didn’t say anything. Herrera was oblivious, much too focused on ensuring that Hughes lived to recognize that Ripley was much too involved in this call. 

He helped move Vic onto a stretcher and watched as Gibson and Herrera shuttled her into the ambulance. It sped off and Ripley took a moment to evaluate the situation around him. Montgomery and Hughes had been pulled out and were speeding towards Grey Sloan for emergency treatment. There were a few people sitting on the ground with oxygen masks on their face, while EMTs treated them. Sullivan was directing a few of the men from 23 to start evaluating the damage and check for more survivors. There were a couple of camera crews around the perimeter, no doubt local news channels eager to get an interview to go along with the footage of the building collapsing. He slowly made his way over to Sullivan, waiting for him to complete his orders.

“I’m heading to the hospital, you good to finish up here?” Ripley asked, already knowing the answer.

“It’s my scene, so yeah. I’ll be there once 23’s Captain arrives and can take over.” Sullivan responded, glancing at his friend. 

Sullivan knew better than to ask why Ripley’s hands were shaking or why his words sounded tight, as if it was taking every ounce of strength to not break down. He watched as the Chief ran to his car and sped off towards Grey Sloan, unwilling to overly analyze Ripley’s odd reaction. 

***

The waiting room at Grey Sloan made Ripley anxious. It always had, even back when it had been known as Seattle Grace. They had made it softer over the years and a little less claustrophobic, but it always inspired tense feelings in Ripley. As a first responder, he’d been to the hospitals more times than he could count, whether it was to tend to his own injuries or to see one of his men. This time was different though, since he had never been here for someone he cared about in the way he cared for Hughes. 

They had never talked about their relationship status, so Ripley was unsure on what to think of Hughes as. The way his throat clenched when he tried to speak and how his heart felt tight in his chest made it painfully obvious that the feelings he had been suppressing for months were anything but easy. Neither him nor Victoria had ever brought up what to define themselves as, but the sex had turned into lazy movie nights and Sunday morning trips to the farmer’s market faster that either could have imagined. He would arrive at her apartment, still smelling of smoke after a difficult shift, and use they key that had long since found a home on his keychain to slip into her place quietly. He’d try to slide into bed without waking Vic up, but she would always awake and wrap her body around his, trying to show without words that she understood the pain. It had remained their secret for months, with no one but Gibson being aware that the Chief of the Seattle Fire Department was sleeping with one of his junior firefighters. Neither were ready for the consequences that would arise once they were discovered, for the scrutiny from their colleagues, or for the no-doubt endless HR interviews that would ensue. 

Ripley shook his head, trying to escape the what-ifs that were plaguing his thoughts. There was no time for that now, not when Vic was in surgery and her crew surrounded him, no doubt somewhat confused as to why the Chief was sitting in the waiting room with them. 

“They’re going to be fine,” he heard Warren murmur to Herrera, “Travis only has a minor liver lac and the rest of his wounds are superficial. Vic is in surgery with the best trauma surgeon in this hospital.”

“Surgery’s still bad, Warren,” Herrera responded, a slight bite in her voice that Ripley knew to be pent up anger, that would most likely be directed partially at herself and the rest at him. 

He spotted Gibson coming towards his corner of the room and prepared himself for questions that he didn’t know the answer to.

“You okay, sir?” Gibson asked, settling into the chair next to Ripley. 

He took a deep breath, “I don’t know.”

“She’ll be okay, you know. She’s survived hell and she can beat a stupid piece of metal.” Gibson paused, scratching his head slightly, “I mean, a building did collapse on her, but she was almost outside so I think that counts for something.” 

Ripley couldn’t help but chuckle, “You sure do know how to comfort someone, don’t you Gibson?” 

“It’s a talent, sir.” He shrugged, a bit sheepishly, but no doubt pleased he’d gotten Ripley to say something. 

“I’ll be okay once I get some answ—” Ripley paused, watching a doctor in trauma scrubs approach them. 

The surgical mask obstructed his view of the doctor’s face, so he had no clue what to expect. He felt like throwing up and screaming all at the same time as he stood up and approached the man, the rest of the team filtering in around him. 

“I’m Dr. Owen Hunt, I’m Firefighter Hughes’ surgeon,” the red-headed man said, pulling the mask off his face, “she’s stable, but there’s still some bleeding from a lac on her spleen. There’s no other major injuries, even though she was pulled out of a building collapse. The heaviness of her gear and your quick response helped protect her from more damage.”

Ripley felt like the boulder that had been on his chest had suddenly rolled off and he could breathe again. He heard a choked sob come from someone behind him, probably from Herrera. But he felt a sense of hopefulness and all the memories and conversations that had been flurrying through his head on repeat since he watched Hughes get pulled out of the wreckage finally came to a halt. He barely noticed when Dr. Hunt started speaking again.

“The bleeding is still concerning, so we’re going to keep her under sedation to hopefully prevent movement and the need to remove her spleen, so we’re going to say no visitors for now,” he said, his eyes scanning over the small group, “If it comes to it, we’ll have to perform a splenectomy. It’s not the end of the world, her life and job will continue as normal with some added antibiotics. We can do a preventative one, but we’d need permission.”

He watched as Bishop’s face dropped slightly, but Warren was quick to back up Dr. Hunt’s comments and assured everyone that he was right. Ripley felt the tight feeling return nonetheless, knowing what was coming.

“I’ll need to contact her next-of-kin, if they’re in Seattle, for approval. If they’re not local, her Captain can act as one since this can count as an emergency.” Ripley felt his heart skip a beat at the doctor’s words.

“Her family isn’t in the area and Sullivan’s still at the scene, but Chief Ripley is her superior. He can act as Vic’s medical authority.” Warren said, unaware of what he was suggesting. 

He knew Gibson was staring at him without having to look. He had made emergency medical decisions for his team before, back when he was Captain, but he had no idea what to do in this situation. His judgement was impaired, and he couldn’t admit in. He couldn’t act as her superior, making medical decisions over whether or not to preventatively cut an organ out of her body when he was in freaking love with her. He could feel the stares as everyone waited for him to accept the responsibility, because it was his job to take care of his firefighters and step in when needed. It was his job, and he couldn’t perform it because he couldn’t trust himself to not act emotionally. When they were on scene, it was easy to compartmentalize and separate Lucas from Chief Ripley, but this was not the type of situation he was skilled at dealing with.

“Can Warren do it? I mean, what’s the point of having an almost-surgeon on the team if he can’t help with medical stuff?” Ripley heard Gibson say as his head continued to ring, trying to come up with an answer. 

“As long as the Chief is comfortable and agrees to it, that’s fine.” Dr. Hunt said, staring at him.

Ripley gave a sharp nod, not trusting himself to speak.

Everyone hustled into action, as Warren instructed the trauma surgeon to keep Vic under observation and not do a preventative splenectomy, despite the rupture. Everyone returned to their seats, no doubt thankful that she was alive and on the road to recovery, despite the internal bleeding.

Ripley let out a deep sigh and returned to the corner of the waiting room, settling down into the uncomfortable chair he’d claimed earlier. Gibson hesitantly patted him on the back, no doubt trying to comfort him in his own small way. He noticed the slight confusion on Bishop’s face, as she was no doubt trying to figure out his odd behavior. 

There was no time to consider what the team did or didn’t know and what they could find out. He had to focus on Vic.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the love guys! Happy New Year! Here's the next chapter :)

After a couple of hours, when it was obvious that there would be no more updates on Vic that night, most of Station 19 had filtered back to their homes. The apartment fire call had come at the end of a brutal twenty-four-hour shift, so it was no wonder that the team was eager to have a hot shower and get some needed rest before visiting hours opened the next day. They’d all quickly gone in to see Montgomery, who was being kept overnight for observation, before heading out for the night. Ripley had sent a short text to Sullivan, updating him on the status of his subordinates and telling him that he could head straight home.

Ripley couldn’t bring himself to leave. Not when Vic was still in the hospital and no doubt in pain. He’d considered heading home, just for a bit, to get some rest before he had to head into the office in the morning. But it felt wrong, so he stayed. 

Warren had noticed him, still sitting in the rock-hard chair in the corner of the waiting room, and immediately took pity. He’d been waiting for his wife to finish her shift and quietly snuck Ripley into one of the empty on-call rooms and told him to get some rest, without asking questions. Lucas wasn’t sure what the former doctor was thinking when he had done so, or what he suspected, but he was grateful nonetheless for the trainee. 

Ripley laid awake after a few hours, still unable to find a semblance of comfort in the small room. His watch blinked, showing 3:30AM in bright lettering. He sighed as he realised that sleep would be permanently evasive tonight and figured he might as well grab a coffee and get some of his dreaded administrative work done. Ripley eased his body out of the small bed and stretched as he stood up, preparing himself for the hell that awaited him. 

The hospital halls were fairly quiet as he slowly walked through the corridors, following the signs for the cafeteria. It was almost empty when he arrived, since the only open stand in the room was a small coffee cart with some mediocre looking baked goods. Lucas ordered a large black coffee and picked out a blueberry muffin that looked edible, before paying and making his way to an empty table. 

He’d been slowly munching at his breakfast, his head void of thoughts for the first time in hours, when a figure approached him.

“Chief Ripley?” Lucas looked up, noticing Dr. Hunt’s towering figure.

He froze, immediately assuming the worse. The muffin dropped from his hand as he looked at the doctor.

“Is something wrong with Hughes?” Lucas asked, careful to enunciate the words carefully before adding, “Montgomery?” 

“No, no, they’re both stable. I’m just surprised to see you still here when the rest of the team left awhile ago.” Dr. Hunt said, still standing. 

Ripley was too tired to come up with a decent excuse as to why he was still at Grey Sloan. Hell, he wasn’t even sure himself. All he knew was that if he left, he’d have to confront the feelings that were gnawing at him, desperately waiting to be acknowledged. 

“Yeah, uh, it just didn’t feel right to leave. She—I mean they’re alone here.” Ripley managed to get out, stumbling over his words. 

If Hunt noticed his slip, he didn’t react, at least not with words. Instead he gestured at Ripley to stand up and so he did, taking a quick moment to throw away the muffin and grab his coffee before following the doctor out of the cafeteria doors. The two men made their way through the winding halls of the hospital and it took Ripley walking through the ICU doors to realise what was happening.

“She’s in 203. Just be quiet and try not to disturb her.” Hunt glanced at Ripley, “Holding her hand is okay.”

If Lucas had been well-rested and not miserable, he would’ve taken a few more moments to work through how Hunt had figured it out. But he wasn’t, so instead he murmured a thank you and slipped into Vic’s room. 

Somehow even with a dozen wires and scrapes all over her body, she still looked beautiful. The hospital gown covered the wound that Lucas knew he’d eventually see once it was healed, but for now remained hidden from him. The monitors beeped steadily and for that, Lucas was grateful. He didn’t even notice when his body sunk down into the soft chair next to her bed and he ever-so-carefully grasped her hand.

For the first time since Vic had been pulled out the building’s remains, Ripley truly felt like he could breathe again. 

Her hand was warm, furthering the evidence that Vic was alive and this wasn’t some sort of sick joke. 

All the suppressed emotions that Ripley had been ignoring for the better part of the day burst out in the form of a choked sob, and before he knew it there were silent tears streaming down his face. He’d never been one to struggle with his feelings, but all he knew was that Vic’s hand was warm, nestled in between both of his own and that she was _alive_. Her body wasn’t crushed under rubble, she was breathing, she was _safe_ , and Ripley couldn’t help but press kisses to her hand, finding that the skin-to-skin contact was necessary. 

Something about physically seeing that Vic was okay made his body finally calm down. He sunk deeper into the chair, after pulling it as close to the bed as possible and took a few deep breaths. He was still in his uncomfortable uniform but within minutes, his eyes had drifted shut, with his hand still firmly intertwined with Vic’s. 

That was how Sullivan found him the next morning. 

The Captain had been planning on slipping in to see Hughes early, preferably before the rest of his team would no doubt crowd into her room. He wanted to ensure that his firefighter was getting good care and get updates on her status from her medical team. He hadn’t expected to arrive and find Ripley there already, nor was he prepared to see the Chief dead asleep, his forearm resting on Hughes’ bed and their hands entwined. 

Sullivan didn’t dare make a sound as he observed the situation and pieces started clicking into place. Ripley’s odd behaviour suddenly had a basis, his emotional response to the building response made sense once Sullivan realised that his friend had an intimate relationship with one of his subordinates. Hell, Ripley was still wearing his ash-covered Chief’s uniform, meaning that he hadn’t left the hospital since Hughes had arrived. 

“It’s not what you think.” Ripley’s sleep-heavy voice broke Sullivan’s thoughts.

His head shot back to the chair that his friend and boss was sitting in, his body still relaxed from sleep. Ripley looked tired as hell, but there was somehow still a slight smile on his face.

“I couldn’t help but be attracted to her, you know? We both get that there’s some awful power dynamics at play, but none of it matters between us.” Ripley took a deep breath, while Sullivan remained silent, “I just—I love her.”

He couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow as Ripley spoke, the raw honesty evident in his voice as he spoke softer than Sullivan had ever heard him speak before. A dozen emotions swirled around in his head, but the most obvious was that Ripley sounded happy when he talked about Hughes. Sullivan decided to listen to what the Chief had to say, mostly because the two had once been like brothers, so he knew that Lucas would never take advantage of his position to get laid. 

“How long?” Sullivan asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

“Six months?” Ripley paused, “HR doesn’t know. No one knows actually, except Gibson and, well, you now, I guess.”

“I feel special,” Sullivan said, cracking a smile.

Ripley chuckled before turning serious again, “It was easier to keep everything secret and label less, but that’s out of the window now.” He paused, “It’s different with her, Sully.”

“I’m happy for you,” Sullivan considered his next words carefully, “but I’ll have to report this, soon at least.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Ripley sighed, his gaze settling on Hughes. “Give it some time though, please? I’ll talk to Vic, we’ll go to HR ourselves, once she’s better.”

Sullivan nodded, “of course, Luke. I’ll head out now since the team will be coming soon, just keep me updated on her status.”

“I’ll give you a call if anything changes. I delegated medical authority to Warren, so he’s making the decisions.” 

It was then that Sullivan realised how serious the relationship with Hughes must be to Ripley, if he couldn’t even trust himself to make medical decisions for her. If the soft words weren’t evidence enough, this was it for Sullivan. With a nod, he left the room, leaving Ripley alone with Hughes. 

Ripley sighed deeply as Sullivan left the room, the weight on his chest feeling a little lighter now that he had told his oldest friend. Glancing at the clock, he realised that visiting hours would open soon and slowly eased himself out of the chair. He didn’t want to be here when the rest of Station 19 arrived, because there was a big difference between disclosing his relationship to Sullivan and his team. 

He paused to look at Vic, her form unmoving in the bed. Ripley pressed a kiss to her forehead and with a final squeeze of her hand, slipped out of the room. Heading into the office was necessary, but Ripley knew that no work would be achieved that day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking this story is going to be 5 or 6 chapters, but I'm not 100% positive yet. This chapter went in a completely opposite direction than planned and all I can say is that I am so, so sorry. It's fairly short, but the next chapter will be up soon!

Ripley was frustrated, to say the least.

He’d been sitting in his office, trying to get through some budget reports for two hours now, but failing miserably at the task. It wasn’t like anything to do with government financials was easy to understand, but today he was having a particularly difficult time with it. Focusing with Vic in the hospital was proving to be impossible.

Ripley had tried to sit in on his morning meetings, listening to HR reports and department protocol updates for an hour before he realised that his information retention was at zero. So, he’d cancelled the rest of his meetings and instructed his assistant to shoo away anyone that wanted to see him, claiming the need to get through some paperwork without interruptions. This, of course, was false and Ripley hadn’t done a damn thing since he’d closed his office door at 10AM.

There had been no updates on Vic’s condition since he had left the hospital, so he could only assume that no news was good news. All this solitude, however, was forcing Ripley to take a deep dive into their relationship, something he hadn’t let himself do since it had started.

They’d had sex a couple of times before Ripley had realised that it was more than casual. It had hit him when they’d gone out to breakfast after a particularly late night, and her spunky personality and nervous laughter had pulled in him. Suddenly, he was cooking her dinner and she was laughing and pretending that she had baked an obviously store-bought pie and he was the happiest he had been in _years_. There were movie nights and taco lunches at his favourite Mexican food truck, paired with quiet nights at his place, where he’d watch cricket and she’d claim to not like it (but he knew she did).

Things had changed again after a firefighter at Station 12 had died in an explosion and Ripley had felt like a failure for not protecting one of his men. After going to see the dead man’s family and holding his wife as she screamed and sobbed all at once, he’d been emotionally drained and absolutely exhausted. But he’d instinctively driven to Vic’s apartment and before he knew it, he had collapsed in her arms and shown more emotion than any of his previous wives had ever seen.

He’d realised he loved her a month ago, when they’d ran into his sister and her kids at the market.

_“Luke?” Ripley spun around, instantly recognizing his little sister’s voice._

_“Lisa? What’re you doing here?” he asked, hugging her tightly._

_He’d been strolling through the farmer’s market with Vic, their hands entwined as he searched for the popcorn stand he was obsessed with. Vic had claimed that there was no way that the fresh sweet and salty popcorn was as good as Lucas was making it out to be, so he’d set out to prove her wrong. He’d completely forgotten that his sister also frequented the market._

_“We’re just grabbing some fruit so we can make some pies. You know PTA mom’s and their need to be organic,” Lisa laughed, before turning her gaze to Vic. “Is this Victoria?”_

_Lucas felt his cheeks heat up as Vic glanced at him, an eyebrow raised. He definitely hadn’t told her that he had mentioned her to his sister._

_“Yeah, I’m Victoria, I usually go by Vic, though.” She smiled, but Lucas could tell that she was nervous. After all, they’d never discussed meeting each other’s family._

_“It’s wonderful to finally meet you! I’m Luke’s sister Lisa, and these two munchkins are my kids, Graham and Madison.” The older woman said, her smile warm._

_“You’re really pretty!” Madison said, her r’s still sounding a bit garbled._

_Vic smiled and crouched down, “well thank you! You’re the nicest and prettiest little girl I’ve ever met!”_

_Lucas stared at Vic and his niece interacting and felt his heart doing the twists it had been performing for weeks. This interaction made him think of how Vic would be with their own kids, knowing fully well she’d be the type of mom that went to every soccer game and dance recital. It was only in that moment that he realised that it was love that he was feeling. He was thinking of a future that they could have together, only if he got his act together and asked her to be with him, officially._

A knock on the door snapped Ripley out of his reverie, and his assistant Martha poked her head into his office.

“Chief? Lieutenant Gibson is on the line. He says it’s urgent.”

Ripley could swear his heart dropped out of his fucking body. There was only one reason Gibson would call him at the office. He nodded quickly at the older woman and hastily picked up the phone.

“Gibson?” Ripley held his breath.

“The bleeding’s gotten worse. Her organs are at risk at shutting down and they’re prepping her in for emergency surgery now.” Gibson said frantically.

“I’m on my way,” he nearly slammed the phone back down on the receiver.

The desperate rush that ensued had Ripley throwing propriety out of the window. He didn’t care if her team questioned why he was there with them, because fuck if he was going to sit around when the woman he loved could die on an operating table soon. He felt like he was on autopilot as he ran out of the building, no doubt leaving a very confused Martha in his wake. Thankfully, Seattle FD headquarters was only a block or two away from Grey Sloan and Ripley chose to run rather than deal with trying to weave his car through rush hour traffic.

_‘Please, don’t let me be too late,_ ’ he thought as he ran, his feet travelling faster than he thought possible.

He burst through the hospital doors and bolted straight to the stairwell, repeating Vic's room number in his head. He wasn’t sure what to expect when he arrived at the hospital, but all of Vic’s team crying in her empty hospital room was certainly not it.

_‘Fuck.’_


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops. Sorry it took so long to update!! So I started this story while on break from school and was totally not expecting to get slammed with a gazillion assignments once I got back. Anyway, thanks so much for the support--I'm pretty sure this story only has a chapter or two left, I'm still trying to figure out the best way to end it. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!

To say that everyone was confused when Chief Ripley barged into Vic’s hospital room, his chest heaving from running two city blocks, was an understatement. Gibson, of course, knew that the Chief was on his way, but had definitely not expected him to run into the room so obviously scared.

Jack knew that his team would figure it out sooner or later, if they took a second to _really_ look at the Chief’s face, to recognize the anguish that’s reserved for when someone loved was hurt. He watched as Ripley assessed the room, with its crying faces and the lack of a patient and he swore that he never wanted to see that look on someone’s face again. It was an expression of pure agony and with that, Jack snapped out of his bubble.

“They took her into surgery a couple minutes ago, there aren’t any updates yet,” he blurted out.

There was relief on Ripley’s face as he realised that Vic was in fact, not dead, and the reason for her absence was that she was in surgery.

“That—That’s good, yes,” Ripley said, letting out a deep breath, “anything else?”

“They said we probably won’t know anything for a couple hours,” Jack supplied, carefully.

“Okay…that’s okay,” Ripley was stumbling over his words, “let me know when there’s an update.”

Ripley departed almost as quickly as he arrived, leaving most of the room’s occupants confused. Jack finally took a moment to observe the room, noting the absolute puzzlement on most of their faces, save for Warren who seemed to understand Ripley’s odd entrance. Andy’s tears had subdued as she slowly got herself under control.

Maya was the one to finally break the silence.

“What the hell was that?” She asked, to no one in particular.

“Beats me,” Dean said, shrugging, “it was pretty odd though.”

“Let’s just focus on Vic, okay?” Gibson cut in, “she’s what’s important.”

Ripley and Vic had made their bed and Jack did not want to be the one to explain to his team that their friend and colleague was sleeping with their boss. Hell no. Covering for them was fine, so long as they were the ones to tell everyone the truth.

 

***

 

When Lucas had barged into the room and seen a half dozen people in various stages of emotional distress, he had no idea what to do. The first thing that had popped into his head was that Vic was dead and he was too late. And even though Gibson had proven him wrong as fast as the thoughts had entered his mind, he couldn’t shake the chill that had overtaken his body.

Lucas exited Vic’s room quickly, knowing that Gibson would let him know if there were any updates. His body was on autopilot as he walked away, trying his hardest to get out of sight of the rest of the team. He ended up in a stairwell that was (thankfully) empty and before he knew it his chest was heaving, and he felt like he couldn’t _breathe._

Every single part of their relationship had flashed through his head during those minutes when he had sprinted to the hospital, only to discover that Vic was already in surgery. The lazy mornings in bed and day hikes in the mountains and pancakes at the only diner in Seattle he knew served the real maple syrup Vic loved.  All of them memories where he had slowly fallen in love with her without even realising it and now that he knew, he wanted to scream it. He needed her to know. Vic needed to survive because he knew her parents would be destroyed and having to explain to them that they weren’t called because no one thought the injury would kill her was a really awful way to meet his girlfriend’s parents. He had to tell her that he loved her and now all his thoughts and plans for the future included her.

“Chief?”

Ripley’s head shot up at the sound of his title (which, at this point, was basically his name). Dr. Hunt was coming up the staircase, a chart in hand. He knew he couldn’t speak, so Ripley tried his hardest to swallow the tears in his throat and prevent more from spilling out of his eyes.

Dr. Hunt paused, and Ripley could feel the man’s eyes on him as he struggled to speak.

“I can’t lose her. I can’t do it.” He pushed the words out even as his throat burned, “God, she doesn’t even know that I fucking love her.”

Hunt nodded, somehow knowing that Ripley needed to get his feelings off his chest.

Ripley used the back of his jacket sleeve to wipe his eyes, one hand on his waist, “I told her boss this morning and he didn’t even seem that pissed, maybe because he saw how badly my other relationships went. It made me feel like it’ll work when we tell everyone.”

He took another steadying breath, letting his hands drop to his side, “But now she might die, and her team thinks I’m nuts, and I can’t function enough to do my job.”

Dr. Hunt leaned against the stair railing, and paused for a moment before speaking.

“I can’t say anything to help you, but just know Dr. Grey is working on her. She’s the best damn surgeon in this hospital. She works miracles and trust me, Hughes doesn’t need a miracle. She just needs a good surgeon. And she has that.”

“I must sound ridiculous right now, to you. Her injuries aren’t as bad as most people in building collapses.” Somehow Ripley found it in him to chuckle as his breathing evened out.

“You just sound like you care. You love her, it’s obvious.”

“I only realised it after a building fell on her.”

Hunt chuckled, “Just calm down. Take a lap. Go see the babies in the nursery. She’s in good hands with Dr. Grey, so take some time then go back to her team.”

Ripley nodded, “Uh, thanks Doctor. I promise I’m more composed at work.”

With that, Dr. Hunt disappeared almost as fast as he had appeared in the staircase, and Lucas was alone again. Only now, he felt calmer. Definitely still some level of panicked and stressed, but much, much cooler.

 

***

 

Lucas had taken the doctor’s advice and wandered around the hospital. Nowhere in particular, but well away from the surgical floor and the panic that came with it. By the time he felt sane again and much more like the experienced Chief he was, he made his way back to Vic’s waiting room, where her team would more than likely still be gathered in.

They looked calm when Ripley arrived. They had managed to pull some chairs in from the hallways; Herrera and Bishop were sitting in the corner, talking quietly. Gibson, Miller and Montgomery had a game of cards going on the small coffee table. Warren was nowhere to be found, which was expected considering he was probably killing time with his other friends.

“Wanna play?” Gibson asked.

Ripley pretended not to be surprised and nodded while pulling up a chair. He felt Bishop’s stare burning the back of his neck, but no one said a word as he quietly joined the group. If they were wondering why he was still here when he no doubt had more pressing matters to attend to, they didn’t ask.

It went on like that for a while, slow card games that no one was really paying attention to and the television playing a rerun of some daytime soap opera that no one knew. Ripley didn’t know how much time had passed by the time Dr. Grey walked in, interns trailing after her.

“She’s okay. We fixed it all.”

Lucas was so happy he could fucking cry.


End file.
